House GOP bill: Death by 1,000 cuts

Next up in the summer “Obamacare” reruns: more votes to defund the law.

A week after the House voted to repeal the law completely, the House Appropriations Committee released a Labor-HHS spending bill for next year that would block the use of any of its funds to “implement, administer, enforce or further” the provisions of the Affordable Care Act.

Story Continued Below

And in case that isn’t enough, the bill picks apart components of the law, cutting off funding for its major programs.

Due for subcommittee markup Wednesday, the bill would rescind $3 billion intended for the Consumer-Owned and -Oriented Plan program, $1.6 billion for the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation, $1 billion for the Prevention and Public Health Fund, $300 million for community health centers and $150 million for the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Trust Fund.

The bill would also defund the Independent Payment Advisory Board, the panel created by the law to put the brakes on Medicare spending. The Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight would be defunded as well.

And the bill once again takes on the hot-button issue of Planned Parenthood, blocking any spending on the group’s programs or their affiliates.

Already, the proposal has ignited partisan passions. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, a Democrat, blasted it as a violation of budget-cutting agreements reached last year.

“This legislation — that primarily deals with programs affecting women, children, vulnerable families and the very health of our nation — bears far too many harmful cuts, especially at a time when these populations are struggling to stay out of poverty in the first place,” she said in a statement.

But House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers called the bill a thoughtful approach to funding important programs.

Committee leaders say the bill will cut $123 billion in ACA spending over the next five years.

Overall, the bill would reduce HHS’s discretionary budget to $68.3 billion, $1.3 billion below the current fiscal year level.

The Health Resources and Services Administration would receive $5.9 billion, a $453 million reduction, although line items for “health professions training” would get three times more than the president’s request of $88 million.

Other highlights:

• The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services would receive $3.5 billion, a $409 million reduction from the current fiscal year.

• The National Institutes of Health would receive $30.6 billion, the same amount it received last year.

• The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration would get $3.1 billion.

• The Administration for Children and Families would receive $16.4 billion in discretionary funds.

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would get $5.8 billion, a $66 million increase.